A MIDWIFE found guilty of fraud by cheating her expenses forms was sentenced on Friday to 150 hours unpaid work, a 12 month community order and was ordered to pay £2,000 compensation.

Gaynor Samantha Thomas, 49, of Sir Charles Crescent, Newport, was found guilty of filling out time sheets claiming to be on call to the NHS when she was actually working at Millview House and Lodge Care Home for dementia patients in Newbridge.

Timesheets claiming to be on call to junior midwives for the Aneurin Bevan Health Board were filled out between June 2011 and January 2012.

During her trial in August at Abergavenny Magistrates Court, Thomas admitted “errors” when filling out time sheets and was found guilty of four charges.

The false expenses totalled more than £3,500.

A charge of using a company Blackberry for social calls, totalling 3,396 minutes, over 11 months was dropped, as were charges of claiming hours and mileage that she was wasn’t entitled to while on secondment to the University of Wales in Cardiff.

At Abergavenny Magistrates Court, District Judge David Parsons found Thomas guilty of claiming leave when she was working.

He said: “There is an enormous sadness that someone who has given so many hours to the NHS and worked so hard has found herself here now.”

The mother of two teenage children claimed that mistakes had occurred while she had been working three jobs with the health board, care home and Cardiff University.

Thomas, who earned £34,500 a year, told the court she was “horrified” when she realised the errors and blamed her traumatic divorce for poor record keeping.

Judge Parsons said: “You were the breadwinner towards the end of your marriage with two teenage children.

“Work took a damaging effect on your health and it seriously impacted your judgment.”

He explained he had taken into account her mental health at the time and that she had been recognised professionally through promotion.

But he described her transaction of claiming time on call when she wasn’t available for those hours as she was on shift at the care home as “dishonest”.